NC man on the run after cutting off ankle monitor right before murder trial
A Charlotte man scheduled to go on trial Tuesday for a 2018 murder cut off his electronic monitoring device and is now on the run, police say.
As of 6 p.m., Willie Devon James, 33, had not been found.
James is accused of fatally shooting Matthew Duke Gibbons, 25, who was discovered in the front yard of a home in northwest Charlotte on Feb. 1, 2018. Police at the time said James and Gibbons knew each other.
James was expected in court Tuesday morning for the start of jury selection in his first-degree murder trial, which was being heard by Superior Court Judge Reggie McKnight. He never showed.
He had been placed on bond in June 2018 and ordered to wear an ankle monitor. He removed the device around 4 a.m. Tuesday, authorities say. James was last known to be on the 3600 block of Brookshire Boulevard, police said in a Tuesday afternoon statement.
He is now charged with first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, injury to property and interference with an electronic monitoring device.
His disappearance could rekindle a long-running debate in the county’s criminal-justice community over whether homicide defendants should be released before trial. The rupture, which has surfaced in other jurisdictions around the country, pits court reform and the rights of those presumed innocent before trial vs. public safety.
In 2019, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced it would no longer monitor homicide suspects placed on electronic surveillance, due to what CMPD said was the unnecessary safety risk these subjects posed.
“I cannot stand behind having murder suspects on (electronic monitoring) ... I think the better place for them would be in jail awaiting trial,” then-CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said at the time.
CMPD said at the time that it would continue monitoring defendants assigned devices before the December 2019 cut-off. James fell into that group and was under monitoring up until Tuesday morning. James’ flight leaves CMPD monitoring only three homicide defendants out on bond.
Under N.C. law, judges may consider only two factors in granting pretrial release: whether there is a reasonable assurance the defendant will appear at future court hearings; and whether a release poses an unreasonable risk of harm to the community.
At the time of its decision to end monitoring, CMPD released statistics that showed a fourth of the defendants placed on electronic monitoring had committed another crime while wearing the devices. In 2019, some 127 defendants removed their monitors.
Prior to his homicide arrest in February 2018, James was convicted in 2014 of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 10 months in state prison, according to N.C. Department of Corrections records.
If James is convicted at his trial, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Police said anyone with information about James’ whereabouts should contact CMPD’s electronic monitoring unit at 704-432-8888, option 3; call 911, or log onto charlottecrimestoppers.com
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 1:50 PM.
